Red Sox Journal: Youkilis plays after all

Wednesday

Jul 27, 2011 at 6:58 PM

BOSTON - A late lineup change resulted in the scratch of Josh Reddick from the Red Sox lineup on Wednesday, prompting reporters to swarm the rookie outfielder when the doors to the clubhouse opened. At this time of year, with the trade deadline so cl

By BRIAN MacPHERSON | Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON - A late lineup change resulted in the scratch of JoshReddick from the Red Sox lineup on Wednesday, prompting reportersto swarm the rookie outfielder when the doors to the clubhouseopened. At this time of year, with the trade deadline so close, anylineup change prompts rumors to start swirling.

But Reddick denied knowledge of any transaction - "Just a dayoff, I guess," he said - and manager Terry Francona later confirmedthat the move had more to do with the health of Kevin Youkilis thanany looming trade.

The third baseman had not been in the original Red Sox lineup onWednesday, two days after he tweaked his hamstring when he steppedon first base awkwardly. But when Youkilis reported to theballpark, he felt fine - and that was enough for Francona to makethe change.

"All it takes is an eraser," Francona said.

With a lefty pitching for Kansas City, Francona scratchedReddick and moved Yamaico Navarro from third base to left field.Reddick has hit .429 with a .478 on-base percentage against leftiesthis season, but Navarro has done most of his damage againstlefties, too, and Francona said he wanted to give him a chance tosee what he could do.

"Red's done great, but I kind of like the idea of seeing Navarroout there a little bit, especially against a lefty," Franconasaid.

And while Francona shot down the idea that Navarro was justbeing showcased - "That has nothing to do with the trade deadline,"he said - a couple of hits from Navarro certainly might prod apotential trade partner along, too.

Morales impressed early on

Jeff Francis first saw Franklin Morales pitch when the ColoradoRockies called Morales up late in the 2007 season, thrusting thelefty directly into a pennant race. Morales made eight starts forthe Rockies in August and September, compiling a 3.43 ERA in theprocess, and he made two starts and two relief appearances in theplayoffs.

If Morales sticks with the Red Sox this season, he'll be askedto pitch in some similarly tough situations - and Francis doesn'tdoubt he'd be up for it.

"I remember when Franklin first game up, he was 20 or 21 yearsold, and I remember being really impressed," said Francis, whosigned a free-agent deal with Kansas City in January. "We wereplaying some big games, and he came up late in '07 and he nevercracked under pressure. He pitched in a lot of big games, and hesometimes didn't pitch that well, but he never quit working. A lotof us were impressed. He was such a young kid to do that."

Morales moved to the Rockies' bullpen full-time in 2009,showcasing the power left arm that attracted the attention of theRed Sox. An inability to command - he walked 24 hitters in 2862/3innings last season - eventually prompted the Rockies to give up onhim, but his potential gave the Red Sox a reason to take a shot onhim.

"He had some trouble throwing strikes at times," Francis said."His velocity went way up when he became a reliever, and, at times,he was really electric. The way he was getting people out wasimpressive."

With the July 31 trade deadline fast approaching, Morales mightstill be pitching for his job as a lefty reliever. He threw 162/3scoreless innings on Monday, but he allowed a pair of runs on threehits and a walk in mop-up duty in the ninth inning on Tuesday.

Lowrie takes his cuts

Jumping ahead of the tentative schedule that had been laid outfor him, Jed Lowrie took live swings on the field on Wednesday, hisfirst live swings since he was placed on the disabled list inmid-June.

As recently as this weekend, Lowrie still was limiting hisswings to tee work. But after a couple of days of soft toss inwhich he gradually ramped up his intensity, he deemed himself readyto take live swings.

"I started out with very few, maybe 10 from each side, and itescalated from there," he said. "When we got to a point where, onthe tee, I could take a good amount of swings and the intensitystayed the same throughout as opposed to a drop-off at the end,that was a pretty good indication that, OK, let's move ontosoft-toss - and then the same thing with soft-toss, and let's moveonto BP."

Lowrie suffered a subluxation of his shoulder on a swing inmid-June, and he ceased baseball activities for a week to rebuildhis strength. But he's been taking ground balls for three weeks,and he's been accelerating his swings as tolerated.

"It starts to fatigue, but I think that's normal," he said."That's been the constant feeling throughout because I continue topush it every day. If I didn't get that feeling, I'd feel like Ididn't put enough work in that day. I want to push it to the pointthat it starts to fatigue and find the line and not cross it."

Buchholz to see specialist

Clay Buchholz did not throw a side session on Wednesday and willnot throw one on Thursday. The Red Sox will have him see aspecialist either Friday or Monday, giving them one more chance toevaluate him before he ramps up his aggressiveness.

Francona emphasized that Buchholz had not had a setback but thatthe team instead was being particularly cautious. The righty hasbeen on the disabled list in mid-June, but the healthy gap betweenthe Red Sox and the wild card-leading Los Angeles Angels of Anaheimhas allowed them to bring him along slowly.

"He had a really good day yesterday," Francona said. "If he'sgoing to start pitching in games, we just want to make sure we dothe right thing."

bmacpherson@projo.com

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